Etymology of word "friend" in many languages

Hello Team! I'm working on a project for my university's president, studying the etymologies of the word "friend" in different languages. Below is what I've come up with so far [Post #1], could you please fill in any that you might know that I don't have yet [Post #2]? Also, if you know of any other languages version of "friend" and associated etymologies could you please let me know? If you see anything below that's wrong or have anything to add, please let me know. Please make all comments in original language and transliterated English please. Thank you!

Friend (English) - Old English - freond, "to love, to favor," from Pre-Germanic. *frijojanan "to love". Related to Old English freo "free." Freundin (German) – Old English: freond, to love - In turn, "freond" comes from "fri", which is Germanic for "to like, to love", and which is also connected with the Norse goddess Frigg, the goddess of love.Vriend (Dutch & Afrikaans) – Old English: freond, to love - In turn, "freond" comes from "fri", which is Germanic for "to like, to love", and which is also connected with the Norse goddess Frigg, the goddess of love.

Sahib (صاحب) (Arabic) - respectful address to Europeans in India, 1673, from Hindi or Urdu sahib "master, lord," from Arabic, originally "friend, companion," from sahiba "he accompanied." OR - the word for "friend" comes from the root "truth," because "Who is your friend? The one who tells you the truth."

Ven (Danish) - From Old Norse vinr, related to Latin venus (beauty), also Nynorsk (One of the two major Norwegian languages, literally meaning "new Norwegian") ven (beautiful)Venn (Finnish) - From Old Norse vinr, related to Latin venus (beauty), also Nynorsk (One of the two major Norwegian languages, literally meaning "new Norwegian") ven (beautiful)

Philos (φίλος) (Greek) – phileo: to love

Péngyǒu (朋友) (Mandarin) - In Shang-Yin (XVI – XI BC) oracle bone inscriptions the character "you" (later – "friend") designated one of types of sacred communication between men and divine ancestors. It implied provision of offerings from the part of descendants and a grant of support from the ancestors’ part in exchange. The character "peng" (later – a part of word combination "pengyou" – "friend") was used as the measure word for "bunches of cowries" being an important component of ritual gift exchange in Early China. The character "bin" (later – "guest") in Shang-Yin time designated special sacred ceremony of entertainment of royal ancestors. In Western Zhou (XI - VIII BC) period it used to designate a type of exchange between men of the same social status, and, on the other hand, a type of tribute delivered by dependent tribes or political units. It also comprised the graph "cowry". Thus this symbol of ritual exchange link the concepts of "friendship" and "hospitality" to each other, making us suppose that gifts used to play an important role in such kind of relationship.

Tomodachi (Japanese) - Tomodachi is the Japanse word for friend. Tomodachi is written with two kanji: 友 (tomo, friend) and 達(-tachi, attain). The first kanji comes from the Chinese you and represents two hands (又 right and 左 left) working together. The second kanji comes from the Chinese da and isn't relevant to the etymology (it's phonetic, "a word about moving that sounds like da" = attain). The Japanse word itself then stems from the idea that working together to accomplish a task creates friends. For the Japanese this will generally be true, as the members of your ka sei (課制, company work group) are often the people you socialize with the most. A familiar abbreviation of the term, just tomo, translates closer to "buddy" or "pal" (私の友).

Kaibigan (Tagalog) - the root word "ibig", meaning "to love." Putting "ka" before a rootword signifies a state of being, such as "kasama" (ka + sama "to go with"), literally "being someone to go with" or "companion". Putting "an" or "han" after a word makes the focus of the sentence the direction of the action, such as "simba" (to worship) + "han" becomes "simbahan", a church, literally, "a place to worship". Thus, "kaibigan" could literally mean, "the state of being someone to share love with"!

Sahib (صاحب) (Arabic) - respectful address to Europeans in India, 1673, from Hindi or Urdu sahib "master, lord," from Arabic, originally "friend, companion," from sahiba "he accompanied." OR - the word for "friend" comes from the root "truth," because "Who is your friend? The one who tells you the truth."

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Sahib is used sometimes to describe a friend, however, it actually is a companion, from as you said the verb sahiba = to accompany. The word sahib can be used to describe a companion (on a journy), a friend and a spouse (since they accompany eachother in the journy of life).

Freind in Arabic is actually Sadeeq صديق, from Sadaqa صدق, to tell the truth. He is called so because a freind does two things: he tells you the truth and he believes what you say. i.e., between two friends is only truth (no lies).

"Freundin" (German) is feminin; "Freund" is masculin.
In Spanish, "amigo" (masc.) and "amiga" (fem.)
And the same in Franch: "ami" (masc.) and "amie" (fem.)
I suppose there must be more languages that change the noun's form dependig on the geder.

Sahib is used sometimes to describe a friend, however, it actually is a companion, from as you said the verb sahiba = to accompany. The word sahib can be used to describe a companion (on a journy), a friend and a spouse (since they accompany eachother in the journy of life).

Freind in Arabic is actually Sadeeq صديق, from Sadaqa صدق, to tell the truth. He is called so because a freind does two things: he tells you the truth and he believes what you say. i.e., between two friends is only truth (no lies).

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That reminds me of another word for close friend in Indonesian: sohib.
I guess it's related to sahabat and sobat.

Hi,
just something I noticed about the etymology of the Celtic words
you ahve written "Caraid (Gaelic) - Irish, Old Irish cara, g. carat, *karant-; Old Irish verb carim, caraim, I love, Welsh caraf, amo, Breton quaret, amare,"
I know there is a significant link between Latin and Irish, and the Celtic words remind me of the latin verb quarare....is(or could there be) there a link?
Sorcha

Tomodachi (Japanese) - Tomodachi is the Japanse word for friend. Tomodachi is written with two kanji: 友 (tomo, friend) and 達(-tachi, attain). The first kanji comes from the Chinese you and represents two hands (又 right and 左 left) working together. Kanji etymology is irrelevant to the etymology of tomodachi and the kanji etymology of working together is not without disagreement. The second kanji comes from the Chinese da and isn't relevant to the etymology (it's phonetic, "a word about moving that sounds like da" = attain). The Japanse word itself then stems from the idea that working together to accomplish a task creates friends (Statement A). For the Japanese this will generally be true, as the members of your ka sei (課制, company work group) are often the people you socialize with the most (Statement B). A familiar abbreviation of the term, just tomo, translates closer to "buddy" or "pal" (私の友). Tomo is not a "familiar abbreviation" but the etymologically authentic word meaning a friend. In Modern Japanese, tomodachi prevails over tomo in use. 私の友 sounds rather archaic— it never translates into "a buddy of mine."

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The veracity of Statement A is questionable whereas that of Statement B is at best limited to the industrialised sectors of modern Japan. Neither of the two, or the two combined, makes a good argument for this etymological enquiry.

The usages of tomo in older Japanese include; companion, friend, peer and attendant. The idea is doing something together (E.g., An attendant accompanies where his master goes) or having something in common (E.g., Peers belong to the same referent group; a likely group in the ancient society is one's tribe). The togetherness or sameness does not necessarily mean sharing the same project.

Tomodachi can be analysed as tomo with the suffix tachi (Originally "a group of ~", it is a productive suffix for making plurals). The first consonant of the second element undergoes voicing upon compounding. It may be that tomodachi once meant "a group of friends/peers" but today it is used indiscriminately for any number of friends (including one friend). There is no form to supply a plural. The distinction of numbers —as it never seem to have been the case— matters very little in Modern Japanese.

The word חבר in Hebrew comes from the root ח.ב.ר which means "to connect".

Another word in Hebrew that means "friend" is ידיד (yadid), whose root - I think - means love, and is also the root of the word דוד (dod), "uncle". I'm not that sure about this one though, so maybe you should wait for confirmation.

paulhersh said:

Does 'sadaqa' have any relation to the Hebrew 'tzedakah' (commonly translated as 'charity' but based on the root for 'justice' (tzedek))? Thank you!

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You pretty much answered your qustion. צדקה comes from the root צ.ד.ק which means "justice".

Another word in Hebrew that means "friend" is ידיד (yadid), whose root - I think - means love, and is also the root of the word דוד (dod), "uncle". I'm not that sure about this one though, so maybe you should wait for confirmation.

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Yadid in Hebrew may be cognate to عزیز (aziz) in Arabic means dear and darling.

Perhaps it's interesting for you the relationship between Latin am-(>amicus, amare) and the Greek ἄμα, adverb meaning next to (Latin and Greek are Indo-European languages, as you know). Saludos, amigo .

Actually, the word most probably originates from an ancient Slavic verb, that means to be in company, or to socialize, which is still preserved in Slovenian, as družiti se, and the word drug for friend, is also still preserved in Slovenian, as an archaism. This word was even used in the Slovenian translation of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, as the more common word, prijatelj, is too long to fit in that song's chorus. In Slovenian, also related are the words družaben (meaning sociable), and družba, meaning both company (in both senses of the English word), and society.
Also, there's the word drugi in Slovenian as well, that means both another, and the second (as in, ordinal number).

arkadaş is made up by arka, “behind; supporter” + the suffix –daş, “fellow with regard to..., companion concerning”, cf meslektaş, “colleague”, literally: “companion of profession” – and many other words.

I have looked up prieten and amic in my Romanian dictionary, but can’t figure out any semantic difference between them.

There must be one, though - even if it is only historical or dialectal.

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There is no semantic difference; amic is interchangeable. The difference is that one is derived from Slavic and the other from Latin. Some people think that the latter isn't as strong as the former, because they consider it to be a neologism (even if this can be discussed!).

There is no semantic difference; amic is interchangeable. The difference is that one is derived from Slavic and the other from Latin. Some people think that the latter isn't as strong as the former, because they consider it to be a neologism (even if this can be discussed!).

robbie

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There is a semantic difference, maybe not an official one, but there is indeed a slight difference in modern spoken Romanian. The tend is to use prieten / prietenă for boyfriend / girlfriend, while amic / amică is just a friend.

Ven (Danish) - From Old Norse vinr, related to Latin venus (beauty), also Nynorsk (One of the two major Norwegian languages, literally meaning "new Norwegian") ven (beautiful)Venn (Finnish) - From Old Norse vinr, related to Latin venus (beauty), also Nynorsk (One of the two major Norwegian languages, literally meaning "new Norwegian") ven (beautiful)

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As has been pointed out, Finnish should be Norwegian.

Judging from my Swedish sources on the Swedish friend vän (short vowel despite the single 'n'), the above "ven (beautiful)" (corresponding to Swedish vän (long vowel as predicted by the spelling)) has different Germanic origins. For the topical vän, it and its venus relation might have a shared origin with Sanskrit vanas 'lust'.

Sahib is used sometimes to describe a friend, however, it actually is a companion, from as you said the verb sahiba = to accompany. The word sahib can be used to describe a companion (on a journy), a friend and a spouse (since they accompany eachother in the journy of life).

Freind in Arabic is actually Sadeeq صديق, from Sadaqa صدق, to tell the truth. He is called so because a freind does two things: he tells you the truth and he believes what you say. i.e., between two friends is only truth (no lies).

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Does 'sadaqa' have any relation to the Hebrew 'tzedakah' (commonly translated as 'charity' but based on the root for 'justice' (tzedek))? Thank you!

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You pretty much answered your qustion. צדקה comes from the root צ.ד.ק which means "justice".

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Yes, both צ-ד-ק (ts-d-k) and ص-د-ق (S-d-q) are cognate roots with meanings related to telling the truth, being righteous, being just, etc.

mkh said:

בעל-חלומות said:

The word חבר in Hebrew comes from the root ח.ב.ר which means "to connect".

Another word in Hebrew that means "friend" is ידיד (yadid), whose root - I think - means love, and is also the root of the word דוד (dod), "uncle". I'm not that sure about this one though, so maybe you should wait for confirmation.

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Yadid in Hebrew may be cognate to عزیز (aziz) in Arabic means dear and darling.

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Actually, the Hebraic root י-ד-ד (y-d-d) is the cognate of Arabic و-د-د (w-d-d)* which means 'to like or love'. In fact Arabic has a word, وديد (wadiid), meaning 'devoted' or 'friendly', which is the same shape as the Hebrew ידיד (yadiid).

The Arabic root ع-ز-ز (l3-z-z), from whence comes عزیز (l3aziiz), is the cognate of the Hebrew ע-ז-ז (l3-z-z). Both have meanings of being strong.

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*As the first radical of a root the Hebrew י (y) can correspond to the Arabic ي (y) or و (w).

In Arabic, there three common words for friend:
1. صديق Sadeeq which comes form صدق Sadaqa to say the truth or to be truthful
the Plural is أصدقاء Asdiqaa and the noun is صداقة Sadaaqah Friendship
2. صاحب Sahib which comes from صحب Sahiba to accompany and the plural for صاحب is أصحاب As'haab and Friendship is صحبة Suh'bah.
3. رفيق Rafeeq which comes from رفق Rifq which is Kindness and friends will be رفاق Rifaq and Friendship is رفقة Rufqah.

In your list you are referring to nynorsk, but I must tell you to be careful here, as nynorsk/bokmål are written languages, and the Norwegian vocabulary is not really devided in two when it comes to spoken language. Though in writing some words are only nynorsk and some only bokmål, in spoken language/dialects, there is no such division. So "ven" (meaning beautiful) is Norwegian, and not really just nynorsk

Azeri: Yoldaş - consisting of yol (way) and daş (same, together, common), which together means literary: those with a common way.

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Well,I would say "dost" is the exact word for "friend". You can be "yoldash" without being "dost". "Dost" implies close sincere friendship. "Yoldash" is rather "pal" or "buddy" in English, "prijatel' " or "tovarisch" in Russian, "camarade" in French.
As for the etymology, I feel the word comes from Persian, although I may be wrong.

"Yoldash" is also used referring to one's wife (comes from "həyat yoldashı" - lit."friend of life"). In Soviet times, "yoldash" was also used for "comrade".

Actually, the word most probably originates from an ancient Slavic verb, that means to be in company, or to socialize, which is still preserved in Slovenian, as družiti se, and the word drug for friend, is also still preserved in Slovenian, as an archaism. This word was even used in the Slovenian translation of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, as the more common word, prijatelj, is too long to fit in that song's chorus. In Slovenian, also related are the words družaben (meaning sociable), and družba, meaning both company (in both senses of the English word), and society.
Also, there's the word drugi in Slovenian as well, that means both another, and the second (as in, ordinal number).
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Actually, pretty much everything you mentioned is also true for Serbocroatian.

Actually, the word most probably originates from an ancient Slavic verb, that means to be in company, or to socialize, which is still preserved in Slovenian, as družiti se, and the word drug for friend, is also still preserved in Slovenian, as an archaism. This word was even used in the Slovenian translation of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, as the more common word, prijatelj, is too long to fit in that song's chorus. In Slovenian, also related are the words družaben (meaning sociable), and družba, meaning both company (in both senses of the English word), and society.
Also, there's the word drugi in Slovenian as well, that means both another, and the second (as in, ordinal number).
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Isn't there a Polish cognate of drug meaning friend?
I'm pretty sure I read it in a film's subtitles. I know in Polish drugi means others, but I'm pretty sure in the scene the word was used to mean friend.

Isn't there a Polish cognate of drug meaning friend?
I'm pretty sure I read it in a film's subtitles. I know in Polish drugi means others, but I'm pretty sure in the scene the word was used to mean friend.

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My Polish dictionary don't thinks so, but there may be a colloquial word like that which isn't in the dictionary.
Anyway, Polish has druh = comrade; pathfinder (says the very same dictionary) which should/could be a cognate of Slovenian drug (that is, the ancient one which isn't used much more as described by OBrasilo).

Usually it is, yes; and usually in Polish "g" stays "g" (I also just checked with a few "g" words, they all had "g" - in initial position, in Polish).

I took a guess here with Polish "druh" - it may be that it is not a cognate of "drug"; I only think that this is likely.

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According to Vasmer, Russian drug and the similar words in other major Slavic languages are all cognates. However, curiously, Vasmer cites Old Polish drug with /g/ at the end, not the modern Polish druh. As far as I know, there hasn't been any regular mutation of final /g/ in Polish. Could it be that this word vanished at some point and was then borrowed from Ukrainian, Czech, or some other neighboring language in which /g/ changed into a rear fricative?

(...) However, curiously, Vasmer cites Old Polish drug with /g/ at the end, not the modern Polish druh. (...) Could it be that this word vanished at some point and was then borrowed from Ukrainian, Czech, or some other neighboring language in which /g/ changed into a rear fricative?

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A loan from Ukrainian would be likely because there were close relations between both nations, and unlikely because Polish, then, was the language of the political leaders (that is, before it became divided in the 18th century; and of course later when Poland was under Russian rule it was the other way round, they didn't like their new rulers).

I can't really see borrowing from Czech, but who knows; I am still only guessing.